On Wednesday, Your World consulted “crisis management guru” Shep Hyken to rip President Obama's golfing after the James Foley beheading as “some of the worst optics he’s seen,” as host Stuart Varney announced in the introduction. But Hyken took it a step further by saying that it sends a bad message to world leaders. As if Fox’s constant harping on every single thing Obama does and says doesn’t send a worse message.
"It’s more than a major blunder,” Hyken said. “On the golf course, on your first shot, you get a mulligan, which is basically a do over. Well the United States President does not get a mulligan. And he hit this shot so far out of bounds. He showed insensitivity. And if anything, he showed a cavalier, almost an overly confident attitude that I think is actually causing a less than confident perception of what’s going on right now.”
“Frankly, it’s embarrassing,” Hyken said about Obama's golfing optics. “What he’s looking like is somebody that, 'Hey, you know what? I’m playing golf. OK, interrupt me, and let’s go deal with the war. Let’s go deal with terrorism. And OK, we’re done now, I’m back to the golf course.' What kind of a message does that send, not only to the U.S. citizens, but to the world leaders, as we all try to band together to deal with all the problems?”
Varney compared Obama to British Prime Minister David Cameron who, when learning Foley’s killer had a British accent, “came home from vacation.” Varney asked, “Do you think that President Obama should have done the same thing?”
Yes, “That’s exactly what he should’ve done,” Hyken said. But he also added, “You can do business back at your vacation home. That’s OK. But when you step out on the golf course, and you’re seen high fiving athletes and money managers… It doesn’t really look bad, it actually is bad.”
According to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller (via PBS NewsHour’s Rundown), President Obama has taken 138 days of vacation as of Friday. Compared to other two-term presidents, Ronald Reagan took 349 days off, Bill Clinton took 174, and George W Bush took 490 days. That, of course, wasn’t mentioned.
Watch the vacation bashing below.
